Waving

Evelyn started waving for real this weekend. Previously she had down a single hand gesture in the general direction of a person. But, now she takes one little cute hand, waves it up and down and sometimes ends in a little beauty queen flourish.

March of Dimes

We started off the week last week bright, early and cold on the road with hundreds of fellow walkers raising money for the March of Dimes, March for Babies. It was a good morning. Joshua managed most of the walk on his own with a little piggy backing and strollering towards the end. We brought the strollers for the girls and they were in and out the whole time.

Evelyn can now get herself to the step between the kitchen and family room and push to stand up. She still has noodle knees so I don't see walking next week but she is on her way. Evie is also now eating chunkier foods: oatmeal, quinoa, soups, etc. She can put away about a cup of food in a sitting and nurses in between. Her pincher grasp has developed and she can now eat little cereal bites, the ones that melt in your mouth. We have to watch the toys on the floor because she can get into everything now.

Joshua had a momentous event at school. He hugged his teacher! It only took two years but his teacher was beyond thrilled for this show of affection.

On Monday, Staci came over to help with the kids. She took them into the back yard and they searched for bugs under all the rocks (I mean all the rocks!) I am not sure how they moved some of the boulders. They came in excited to tell me about the ants, orange centipedes, worms and other critters they spotted. On Friday, we took Stephanie and Sam and went to Rumbleway Farm to pick up fresh chicken. They all had lots of fun exploring and seeing the animals there. The goats charged us and we saw freshly hatched turkeys along with a really friendly cat and lots of chickens.

Today we are supposed to go to a church picnic but it is raining so we will see.

Perfect Saturday

This morning we got up and out to the Farmer's Market. Mira picked out a lavender plant to take home and we got a handful of other items: bacon, cheese, green onions, and lettuce. The kids got chocolate and the table set up by the Master Gardeners.

When we came home we gather ourselves together and headed out again with Daddy in tow. We picked up sandwiches at Subway and then went to an estuary for a picnic and walk. We heard and then saw frogs just as we came in and took our things to picnic down by the water. Joshua ate lunch intermitently tossing seed pods into the water and watching them float. We made our way back to the nature center after lunch and did a couple of the observation stations on the way.

Inside the nature center some of the teenage volunteers were working with the wildlife there. There was a box turtle on the floor that sped over to our shoes to nibble on them. He was neat. And they had the snakes out to touch. One snake was being fed, a corn snake, but he wasn't very interested in the mouse that was running around in his cage. So they moved a black rat snake into that cage and within seconds the snake had caught the mouse and was constricting him. Minutes later the mouse was dead and the snake was working on eating him, whole. We saw a toad and several other kinds of turtles. Josh and Mira both touched the snakes and like watching the turtle speed around on the floor. They watched the snake eating the mouse with interest and were not upset.

This was our first time to the estuary and it was great. We will definitely go back! Yesterday and the day before were also full of nature as we had a picnic and visited the dam on Thursday and then went to the acquarium on Friday. Now it is nap time and we are all pooped!

Movement

Evelyn is on the go now. She started crawling yesterday. I guess the house is no longer safe. I was used to just plopping her down and watching her play, sit and roll around in mostly the same spot. Now, she can get to the other kids' toys. The end of an era :-) She is also starting to eat those little cereal puffs that are for infants. She doesn't like any food with chunks but we are working on moving things along from puree's to stuff with more texture.

Josh and Mira had a nice time running around in the backyard last night and playing together. It is a rarity. Usually they need mommy and daddy to help give them direction and act as referee. The weather has been glorious and we have tried to get everyone outside as much as possible.

Easter and Speech

Easter Sunday the kids were up bright and early, 6 am, ready to see what the Easter bunny had hidden. Thankfully, for Aunt Jill, we were able to hold them off until 6:45am. They gathered the eggs and ate a healthy breakfast of candy, hard boiled eggs and jellied toast. Then off to church at Memaw's to celebrate have ANOTHER egg hunt and then head over to Memaw and Grandad's for Easter Supper. It was a busy day and the kids were pooped at the end of it. Joshua was particularly affected in church by all the candy and was practically vibrating from the sugar. We were able to get Mira down for a nap, thanks to daddy. Jason did homework in the spaces in between activities and was able to turn that in this morning. Evelyn was her normal, cheerful self. She enjoyed the applesauce and mashed potatoes and also had a nap in there. She liked the plastic eggs to chew on and enjoyed her new picture book.

Last night, we had Aunt Carie over for dinner. She brought the kids chick-fil-a and that was a hit. The highlight was with Evie though. Jason mentioned that he thought she was ready to start baby signs. Carie offered some suggestion on how to make it work and I made skeptical comments that Evie was likely not ready yet. But, I tried anyway and showed her the sign for more by touching the tips of my fingers together, doing it for her with her hands and then giving her a bite of food. Then next bite, I showed her the food and said, 'more?' and she did it! She brought her hands together herself. So, we played this game throughout her feeding and again at breakfast this morning. I guess she is ready :-) Smart little cookie.

Visit and milestones

This week Evelyn was able to push herself to sitting. She can now roll both ways well and sit up. She is still SOOOOOO close to crawling but just has not do it yet. She is unhappy in any of the 'containers' that we have for her and would much rather just sit on the floor surrounded by toys. As long as she is content we are happy. She is eating lots of foods as long as they are pureed smooth. Any lumps and she gags and turns red and it is really quite a scene.

We had a wonderful visit from Grandma and Papa starting March 16 'til the 24. The kids would have been happy if Grandma and Papa had just announced they were staying here for good. The weather was fine and we were able to go to several parks and play in our backyard. We made it down to the city to wonder around and stop in a bookstore there so G & P could spoil the kids with lots of books. There were many highlights but I think what J, M and E loved the best was 1 - always having at least 1 adult to themselves at all times, 2 - listening to G&P read lots and lots of stories, 3 - playing games and taking walks with G&P. I should add that Joshie was thrilled to play Papa's iphone games at any chance he could get.

We are looking forward to Easter Sunday, eggs and candy. Today the kids made egg shaped sun catchers out of contact paper and tissue. The weather has been lovely so Joshie has been helping me to plant seeds. We will be dying eggs tomorrow and going to church and dinner at MeMaw's on Sunday. It will be a nice weekend and the girls have the sweetest dresses to wear for church :-)